Prince’s “17 Days” piano demo unearthed: Stream

Early solo rendition comes from the upcoming Piano & A Microphone 1983

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Later this month, Warner Bros. Records and the Prince Estate will release a posthumous Prince album called Piano & A Microphone 1983. The nine-track collection comprises early demo recordings Prince laid down solo to cassette at his Kiowa Trail home studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota. One track from the record, the previously unreleased “Mary Don’t You Weep”, came as part of Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, and now WB has shared another one, “17 Days”.

“17 Days” was originally released as a B-side to “When Doves Cry”. Here, in its barest, earliest form, you can hear Prince working out the funky melody, all the more smokey for being delivered on nothing but keys. There are also a few interjections from the musical icon himself as he passes instructions to his recording engineer.